


You Gotta Believe Me When I Tell You

by UpBabyUpWeGo



Category: Strictly Come Dancing RPF
Genre: But thanks for coming through Ms Visage, F/M, Forgive me if it’s shit my GCSE English days were a while ago, G also wants you to know WE ARE LIIIVE, G hates hawaiian pizza (rightly so), Help I’ve never done this before, Okay wow sorry I love them bye, R comforting G - v cute, R&G own my existence, Sorry it’s taken so long why does AO3 make you wait like three days for an invite, That live on 08/01 got me in my feels, This does contain Michelle bashing I’m sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:20:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28690077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UpBabyUpWeGo/pseuds/UpBabyUpWeGo
Summary: Ranvir has a FaceTime call with a stressed Giovanni who’s just done an Instagram live with Michelle, who could have possibly just outed the two of them as a couple if any viewers were paying close enough attention.
Relationships: Giovanni Pernice/Ranvir Singh
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22





	You Gotta Believe Me When I Tell You

Ranvir walked over to her sofa, cup of tea in hand, joggers on and Giovanni’s colour block Adidas hoodie which was keeping her warm during these frosty January nights. It still smelled of him, which brought a small smile to her face. 

As she sat down ready to flick on Netflix, her phone started buzzing frantically on the coffee table. She looked over at the screen, where she saw an incoming FaceTime call from Giovanni. Just reading his name made her heart race, and she was fully aware of how stupid that sounded, but she couldn’t help it. These past few months had been a whirlwind of emotion for the both of them. She still had trouble believing he wanted her and only her, but she was slowly starting to convince herself that she deserved love, and she was so very proud of that. Proud of the woman she’d become these past few months, with his help. 

She pressed the accept button, and beamed at the man she saw staring back at her. Gosh, he was so gorgeous. And he knew it, which constantly made her laugh, but she knew she was lucky to have the privilege of knowing the real him. The one no one ever cared to get to know because all they see when they look at him is his face or his ‘family pack’ of abs. Which of course, she was hardly complaining about, but getting to know him and his heart of gold had healed her in a way she never even thought would be possible. He’d opened up to her, telling her things he’d never told anyone else before, about how he could be in a room with all of his friends and still feel lonely. Because that’s what he’d been his whole life as a dancer away from his family and his hometown - lonely. He told her how lockdown had made him feel like a lost Sicilian boy in the big city of London, despite living there for 5 years. He’d done his best to show her everyone has inhibitions, and he wasn’t afraid of putting all of his on the table for her to see, plain as day. And for that, he was her special little soul. 

“Well hi there,” she grinned, but was puzzled as to why he was looking quite serious and not his usual smiley self. 

“Ranvi, we have a problem. Quite major actually,” Giovanni started, he himself looking like he wasn’t quite sure where he was going with this. 

“We do? What’s up?” she replied hesitantly.

“Well...me and Kai did our live...and...Michelle was our guest for today that we had on,”

Hmm, Michelle. Giovanni thinks the world of her, they’re like brother and sister, but Ranvir on the other hand didn’t know what to make of her. Ranvir prided herself on her people skills; she was a lady known for being easy to get on with and everyone around her loved her, and she did them. However, she still hadn’t really made her mind up about Michelle Visage. There was something about her and her borderline... obsession with Giovanni. Now, she was very aware of the attention he attracts and this is something she had been forcing herself to come to terms with for a while, but when it came from people close to him, like Michelle, it made things all a bit confusing sometimes. She knew it was nothing serious, but she hated how Michelle openly objectified him at any possible opportunity, and how he just had to go along with it. She made a mental note to bring this up to him some other time and ask him how he felt about that. That was their thing they’d decided for each one of their nightly lockdown FaceTime calls - they both chose a topic they wanted the other to talk to them about. Ranvir’s topics she’d chosen for him so far had been all about Italy, she could listen to him talk about his home for days, because it made him so happy and proud. For her, he was obsessed with her job and her intelligence. He picked a different topic each night to do with what was currently going on in the world, and he had been learning so much from her. Both of them knew, in terms of being a supportive couple who learn from each other and listen to one another, it just couldn’t get better than this. They had something so special and they knew it.

“Yeah okay... and?” Ranvir replied, the pang of rising dread slowly seeping its way into her brain, fearing for the worst, whatever it may be.

“Well she started teasing me about how you’re my favourite partner now. LIVE! In front of everyone. It’s all anyone seems to be doing these days, first Janette and Kai, now Michelle and Kai...” he started spiralling, his accent getting thicker and Ranvir was stunned at how much this was seeming to impact him. She knew these lives he was doing were probably going to expose them one way or another and she’d prepared for that in her mind. 

“I-, I just can’t do it, you know? Like, as good as you can? I can’t fake how I’m feeling and when I try to laugh it off I just look even more obvious,” he said, now laughing in embarrassment at himself. 

It made Ranvir smile fondly to think of him getting all caught up in trying to brush the mention of her off whilst getting himself worked up in the process. Wow, was this really the effect she had on this man?! Get it girl, she allowed herself to think for good measure. 

“Gio...” she started to say, an attempt to calm him down, but he continued,

“Basically, I think everyone knows. About us. Like everyone. You know we’re the top story in the papers at the moment... Michelle kept saying stuff like ‘the people wanna know!’ so obviously everyone watching knows she means you. I’m freaking out, if you can’t tell,” He’d stopped pacing around his room and sat down on his bed, propping his phone against the water bottle on his bedside table. “I don’t want you to think we’re just some joke to laugh about, I know we want it to come from us when we’re ready. You know how much I want to keep this out of the public eye for as long as we can.”

She also knew he was probably petrified of what she thought about the whole ordeal, Michelle’s big mouth, and that he was probably expecting an argument to start. So she did the exact opposite, because something about the look on his face made the miles between them ache like a heavy weight on her shoulders. She just wanted to kiss him and tell him they’ll be alright. 

“Gio... everything is fine. I promise you,” she said gently, cueing a rush of satisfaction to run through her body as she saw his face flood with relief. “Listen, people are gonna find out sooner or later, we know this. I know you want me to be the one to tell people when we’re ready, but it really is alright. She didn’t exactly confirm anything, because you haven’t told her anything, right?” she asked him.

“No of course I haven’t baby,” he replied reassuringly.

“Well then, it’s fine! More than fine, in fact. She was just teasing you, G,” she said grinning sweetly at him as he softly stared at her through the screen as if she was the only thing on his mind. 

“Are you sure? I can go yell at her if you want me to, just say the word! I would be more than happy,” He said with such a serious look on his face, that Ranvir burst into laughter, clasping her sides. 

“No, no, there’s no need for that,” she managed between stifles of giggles, “It’s all good darling. How was the live anyway? How was the pizza?!” 

“It was funny baby, I had a good time. I wish you could have seen it. And don’t talk to me ever again about Hawaiian pizza, it’s the most disgusting thing ever invented. Disgraceful. How can people do that? I don’t even feel Italian anymore! I mean it!”

He was the king of drama and it just made her fall for him even harder, all his quirks and mannerisms she’d become so used to over these past few months, it shocked her at how well she knew him. Their connection was unlike anything she’d ever felt before, and it scared them both more than they’d care to admit. There had been so much passion, so much intimacy between them in such a short space of time that they’d become so used to being on the same schedule, taking their time in the studio completely for granted. 

This lockdown... it was hard. Much better than the first, because suddenly she had this new person in her life who actually made her feel good about herself, but also twice as harder because of him too. She longed to be with him, to be back in the training room with him, just 10 hours straight of them and nothing but them. Getting lost in each other, learning about each other. She missed him so much. 

“You drama queen. Although to be fair, it does sound grim, so well done for giving the people what they wanted,” she winked at him and he laughed, still wearing that same expression on his face of complete adoration. The one you can blatantly see every time you watch back any clips of them on the show. The one she’d let herself get used to over these past few months. 

“So... I’m thinking of doing a little dance snippet on my Instagram stories as a preview thing for the dancing on Monday,” he said with excitement, which looked very cute on him Ranvir thought to herself. 

“Ooh yeah, you should definitely do it! I bet everyone’s so excited!” 

“I decided on the song I want to use...” he said, smirking.

“Oh god. It’s one of ours, isn’t it?” She read him like an open book, as he did her. 

“YES!!! Week 4 baby!” he screamed through the screen, loud enough Ranvir thought Tushaan was going to wake up. God help her if he realised she was talking to Gio, he would never fall back asleep again. 

“We’re gonna do it to ‘I Like It Like That’,” he continued “I thought, why not! Because, you know...1, 2, cha cha cha’ he said bursting out laughing and so did Ranvir at their little inside joke they shared. Knowing he cared just as much as her about their time together in training really made her feel so special. He’d taken every opportunity in those later weeks to tell her it had never felt like this with anyone else, petrified that once they leave the show, she would leave his life too, out of fear of the ‘what ifs’. She looked at him like a crazy man every time he needed reassurance - she was going nowhere. Not when it felt this good. Something inside her let her believe he wasn’t going to either. 

“Oh. My. God. Giovanni!!! That’s going to be incredible,” she said gazing at him through the screen with so much love in her eyes and he caught on instantly.

“I miss you so much baby,” he said looking at her, sadness glazing his perfect features.

“I know Gio, I know. I’d give anything to be back in that ballroom with you. Or the training room, Regent’s Park, anywhere. Anywhere in the world, just me and you.”

“And Tushaan!” he said, cheerfully. 

“Of course, and Tushaan,” she said giggling. The bond her son and him shared will forever shake her. Sometimes she looks at the way the two of them interact, and it’s like all of this was just meant to be. They were meant to find each other, and call this little family their own. 

“It’s all good Ranvi. We have to be positive, don’t we. What do I always tell you? There’s two ways of looking at life - glass half full and glass half empty. You be happy or you be sad, up to you. Me? My glass has always been completely full, overflowing even, ever since you and Tushaan came into my life.” His words were so sincere, and the way he was gazing into her eyes even across a phone screen was enough to make her heart feel full with satisfaction and just, love. She loved him. So, so much. 

“Same Gio, same,” she whispered into her cup of tea as he never took his eyes off her once. “Right, go on then, go bust some moves. Your fans are waiting,” she told him, putting her bossy hat on from time to time because she got a kick of out telling him what to do for a change. 

“Only fan I care about is right in front of me,” he said grinning like mad, totally aware of how cheesy that was, which had them then both giggling like teenagers. “Speak to you later baby,” he said as he blew a kiss to the camera.

“Bye sailor,” she said grinning back, as she ended the call. 

Half an hour later, she saw the Instagram stories of him and Kai dancing to their Week 4 Cha Cha song, and she felt so content. At many things, actually. One being the gorgeous memories associated with that week, how she opened up to him about the shit she’s been through, and how he reacted in the sweetest way, instantly going into full-on protective mode from there on out. Another being the way he was glowing with happiness in the video, and her knowing that she played a part in that. And perhaps the most important one - the gift of dancing he had given her, which had reinstalled her confidence within herself through learning to realise she was worthy of love and happiness. A mixture of emotions really. All she knew is that she didn’t want to spend a single second of this life without him anymore, because their connection really was everything.

**Author's Note:**

> I find it actually quite hard to put into words what Ranvir and Gio’s journey has meant to me, if I’m honest. As a brown girl myself, I haven’t really grown up with a lot of representation on the telly. So when I started watching strictly this series just gone, saw this beautiful woman who looked like me flourish into a gorgeous dancer with the man by her side looking at her as if his world revolves around her... it all got a bit much - and now we’re here. Gio’s right, she is a beautiful princess who deserves everything. I hope you enjoy ❤️
> 
> Btw my username is inspired by one of my favourite songs which is quite apt for R&G, it’s called ‘Capital Letters (acoustic) by Beth’ if you wanna give it a listen🥰


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